ITALY: Genova’s Azienda Mobilità e Trasporti has ordered 14 trainsets from Hitachi Rail to expand the capacity of the city’s automated light metro line, which is currently being extended at both ends.
Ordered at a cost of €70m, the articulated four-car trains will be similar to the seven sets supplied by Hitachi Rail in 2012. Each 39 m long train will be carried on three powered and two unpowered bogies, and provide capacity for up to 290 passengers, including two wheelchair spaces. The air-conditioned units are intended to operate in coupled pairs, and will also be able to run in multiple with the earlier sets.
The 7·1 km metro is currently operated by a fleet of 25 trains. The first six were built by Ansaldo in 1990, while the 12 second-generation trains were supplied by the same builder in 1992. The fourth-generation trains are to be manufactured at Hitachi Rail’s plants in Italy, using parts sourced nationally as a priority, and will be funded by the national government as part of the country’s coronavirus recovery package. The first is due to be delivered in early 2024.
‘The improvement of the metropolitan network is fundamental for the public transport in Genova’ explained AMT Chairman Marco Beltrami. ‘The 14 new trains will allow us to offer a service of constantly increasing quality, within a growing network.’
